China forges new relations with Taiwan

The Chinese leader Hu Jintao is to meet the newly elected vice-president of Taiwan in a breakthrough in relations that for decades would have been unthinkable.

The meeting will take place on Saturday at a business forum on the Chinese island of Hainan, over which Mr Hu is presiding and which Vincent Siew, who was elected vice-president of Taiwan last month, is attending as part of its delegation.

Aides are stressing that there will be no one-on-one meeting, and that the meeting has little formal implication as Mr Siew does not take office till May.

Nevertheless, it is the highest level contact between China and the island it regards as a rebellious province since the end of the civil war which separated the two in 1949.